


you don't even know me

by edgeoflights



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, Dogs, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson, Multi, No beta we die like Tripp, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Skye | Daisy Johnson, Parent Melinda May, Post-Apocalypse, Service Dogs, dystopian au, except he ain't dead in this one :))
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29728389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgeoflights/pseuds/edgeoflights
Summary: A dystopian apocalypse au, where Skye is a spunky 16 year old and the world seems to constantly deal her a crappy hand- until she encounters SHIELD, and in it a young, excited biochemist, a golden retriever, and Melinda May, an ex air force pilot with a dark past.And then she realizes that maybe she's not as alone as she thinks.
Relationships: Agents of SHIELD Team & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Jemma Simmons/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Natasha Romanov & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson & Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson/Melinda May, Skye | Daisy Johnson & Antoine Triplett
Comments: 34
Kudos: 74





	1. A friend.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cloudypaws](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudypaws/gifts).



> For Holly, noodle mother <3
> 
> Info: Additional tags to be added as the story progresses. Updates every two weeks. Trigger warnings may be used for future chapters, and the tags of the fic will be properly updated if we reach that point.
> 
> Title: You don't even know me, by Faouzia
> 
> AN: I'm excited to go on this journey with you guys :) I actually have written this before, but it was a different plot and old writing and like. very unfinished. This is a full rewrite, so the first two chapters may look familiar!

As Skye stumbled among the rocks and metal pipes that stuck out from cement blocks that had once been a part of buildings hundreds of stories high, she spotted the only thing still standing in sight: a dilapidated billboard that still hadn’t been covered in tags by the waves of gangs and 'clans' passing through. 

Half of the large poster plastered onto it still remained, showing a young girl on a man’s shoulders, both of them smiling in a way that seemed alien to her. Their faces were clean, absent of both the grime and the blood and the despair that tracked over every living person's face now.

OPEN FOR LE- the sign screamed in large, red blocked letters.

Lease. 

She almost wanted to laugh at that. 

The sign was just another reminder of how much society had changed. People used to lease things, for paper. _Paper_.

Now, shelter was only available if you had food or weapons. The paper money now littered the streets, faces of men who’d once been renowned in history now covered in dirt, forgotten, and ripped in half. 

Skye pulled herself forwards, panting as the sun continued beating down on her.

She’d run out of water in the last city, and If she didn’t find more soon, she wasn’t going to last.

But she had to. To deliver the drive.

As her boots crunching on the debris were the only sound echoing around the ghost city, she shivered even in the heat, feeling something cold and lost tracing her. The dirty, ruined echoes of buildings and lives surrounded her.

Most everything useful had been picked up by scavengers, but there were still remnants of something once happy, but now lost. She could pick them out among the wreckage, and tried not to think of what they’d once been a part of.

A once-maroon couch, now a dusty brown from the sun weathering away at its dye, lay on its side, all of the stuffing removed by scavengers to make pillows and blankets for the nights. 

The nights were dangerous. The nights were when travelers lost their limbs and heads as the burning wind came and somehow found its way through a person's cracks, freezing them to death.

Skye could imagine a happy family, like the man and the child on the billboard, sitting on the couch and... she wouldn’t know. Watching TV? Laughing? Just talking, about... boys? Like a normal dad and daughter would.

Her father had never done that. Skye didn’t think he even knew her real age.

Lost in her thoughts, she tripped over... something. A blur of golden fur whipped between her legs.

“Fuck.” she muttered as she found her footing, her voice hoarse and scratchy from lack of hydration. “The fuck was that...” 

As she turned around, she balked at a large dog with yellow, matted fur sitting patiently in front of her.

“Hey?” Skye asked cautiously. She had never thought that there could be anything left alive in Ghost Cities, or at least she’d never encountered anything alive.

The dog just cocked its head and stared at her with large blue eyes, panting eagerly.

“I don’t have anything to give you, I’m sorry.” Skye turned away to continue moving, but stopped and groaned at the whine from behind her. 

She whirled around to see the dog’s ears had flopped down, making it look adorable. 

“I don’t have anything. Best of luck to you,” she croaked and turned again to leave, sighing at the sound of the dog getting up and pitter-pattering behind her tentatively. It evidently wanted to come with her.

She studied the dog currently grinning at her. (How _dare_ it grin in such a bleak situation?) It was an extra mouth to feed, but it was large, and had an intelligent gleam in its eyes. Maybe she could make it useful.

“Can you hunt?” Skye asked, expecting the lack of response she received.

She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “The second you cause trouble, I’m dumping you in the next ghost city we see, you got it?”

Seeming to understand she’d said yes, the dog barked, the sudden loud noise reverberating against the hollow structures surrounding them.

“Let’s keep moving. I need water, and I’m guessing you do too.”

* * *

They kept walking, but another half hour in the heat and her vision started to blur. 

“I need to stop,” she announced aloud, and plopped down onto the ground. “Just… a few seconds,” she sighed.

The dog trotted up to her and wagged their tail.

“I’ve decided. You seem like a girl,” Skye said. “I hope you’re a girl. Boys suck.”

The dog whined.

“See? You agree. Definitely a girl.” Skye looked at the dog and grinned. “You’re pretty fun. I’ve never had someone to talk to before. I mean, you can’t respond, but it’s still therapeutic.”

The dog barked.

“Hey, shhh, we don’t want scavengers thinking we’re easy prey. Stay quiet.” Skye sighed and wiped her brow, which was developing trails of salt as the sweat dried and replaced with more.

“You know, this reminds me of the time Miles gave me a succulent and I treated it like my therapist for three weeks.” she frowned. “No wonder it died.”

“Miles is a jerk, though. You wouldn’t want to meet him,” she said, but she still faltered at the thought of him. She studied the dog. “I feel like if you’re going to tag along with me, you have to know some things. I’m Skye. Just Skye. Skye Zabo, technically. I’ve never seen a dog in real life before, but Cal used to have a cat. His name was Spiky and he was awful. Though one time Spiky scratched cal in the eye. If only I could be that brave.”

The dog bumped Skye’s cheek with her nose and Skye grinned.

“Alright, alright, I’m rambling, I know. Water. Yes.”

She got to her feet and continued her search for a water source, the dog trailing behind.

* * *

After finding an old water fountain in a more open area of the city, she refilled her canteen with the murky water and let the dog lap from the spout once she’d collected all she could.

Finding nothing else useful, she pulled her map out from her boot and unfolded it. Squinting to make out the faded ink, she traced the line she’d already scratched out and found the city they were in. She followed the line to the next city. 

One more until her destination. Less than 24 hours if she didn’t stop except to sleep for a few hours.

And then... who knew. She certainly didn’t know. Someone was to meet her, and give her the code that let her know she could trust them to pass along the unlocked drive.

And after that?

Her future was up in the air.

* * *

Four hours later, they were already many miles away from the ghost city. 

The sun was beginning to set, and Skye was pushing herself more and more to reach the next city by nightfall, but her legs and lungs were burning from the hours without reprieve.

“So,” Skye panted, “what should I call you?” she asked the dog, who’d begun to droop and was lagging behind a little. “I wonder what your owner named you.”

The dog didn’t answer, obviously. 

Skye sighed. “What about Henri, like Henrietta? Your hair is way too thick to even think of trying to check if you’re a boy or a girl, so we can call you Henri for now, since it’s gender neutral.”

Again receiving no response, Skye sighed, her throat hurting. “Cool. Henri.”

And the lonely pair continued stumbling off across the endless tan that was the parched desert sand.


	2. The border.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hell yea plot be starting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sanity said no thanks

Thankfully, Skye and Henri arrived at the next Ghost City before nightfall, having barely a drop left to drink between the two of them. They immediately found a hose attached to what used to be a house.

As Skye poured the stream of water straight into her mouth, and then Henri’s, she took a moment to think. She had more than enough food for the journey to her target city, one of the few left alive in New Mexico; Santa Fe. On the way back, however… 

Her father had promised flippantly that the recipients of the message, a fairly renowned group named Hydra, would reward her kindly, but she didn’t understand why he’d ever have her receive anything valuable when he kept her hidden in the basement like something lower than a dog, feeding on scraps while he met with other high-profile businessmen. They were keen on getting their hands on the valuable medicine and drugs her father had monopolized and heavily guarded in his mansion and in various properties around Fort Worth, Texas. Her home.

So why would he ever let her get any reward?

Skye stopped the hose and plopped down onto her back on the concrete, hit with a realization: This was supposed to be a one way trip. She was expendable, of _course_ she was. They’d probably shoot her down the second she completed her mission.

She’d always known her father didn’t love her, but something about sending her on a suicide mission… 

But she had something that they wanted. The drive, a thumb drive that only her DNA could unlock. Something that her father was paid in thousands of weapons and ammunition to send to Santa Fe. 

Anything that valuable could certainly be used as leverage when she arrived. Maybe she could use this opportunity to trade the message for more food, or maybe shelter.

Maybe she could _finally_ be free from her father. 

Renewed energy coursing through her body at the thought of freedom, and the fact that she had something she could use as leverage, a determined Skye pulled herself back up to a sitting position, meeting a grinning Henri’s tongue.

“Ew. Okay, stop, Henri. C’mon.” She pushed the happy dog away in annoyance, then sighed.

Tomorrow, either she would finally be able to escape the chains of her father’s influence, or she would die.

Either option was welcome, at this point.

Henri flopped onto the ground, disrupting Skye from her thoughts.

"Oh, are you thirsty, girl? C'm'ere." She dug a small hole in the dirt with the toe of her boot and poured some water into it for Henri to drink. "Good girl." She pet her dog while she drank.

Then, after filling up every bottle and canteen she owned with water, Skye and Henri set off once again.

Skye rambled while they walked, talking the most she'd ever talked in her life. Dogs were nice companions. They didn't argue much.

“I wonder what exactly I can get from Hydra by withholding the drive. Food? Maybe I can ask for protection… I’m sure if my dad learns I’m alive, he’ll send a goon to come kill me. I know where some of his safe houses are… he doesn’t want that info getting out. After this, he has no use for me.”

Henri remained silent in response, trotting alongside her new owner.

“I don’t even understand why it’s so valuable, I mean…” Skye trudged along wearily, adjusting the wrap around her wrist. “I haven’t read it, you know. It’s just a thumb drive in my backpack. Maybe I will before we share it. If I’m going to be holding something over Hydra’s heads, I might as well know what it is.”

Henri whined quietly.

“You think I should read it? Yeah, okay. I would need to get to a laptop first. I just hope it’s not rigged. That would suck.”

Skye kept moving, stumbling every so often but righting herself before her prolonged exhaustion could force her to drop.

After another hour, Santa Fe’s taller buildings behind the city’s signature wall were finally in sight. Skye breathed a quiet sigh. “Finally.”

Reaching the edge of town, which was mostly just camps set up around the border wall, Skye made her way through the bustling, impoverished tent setups that these people were forced to call home and stepped around a circle of dirty children to make her way to the nicer areas closer to the wall, bordered by guards.

Seeing everyone so absent of basic human necessities made her sick, but in this world people had long ago stopped worrying about others. If you constantly tried to help other people, you wouldn’t survive. Skye’d learned that the day her mother had died.

She walked along the wall until she reached a large, cracked road into the city marked with a large once-white booth used for allowing passage into the city.

She then held her hand over her eyes so she could see clearer under the bright sun reflecting off of the coarse dirt and sand and headed to the checkpoint attached to the wall, a little nervous.

Her father had given her a code to use with Border Patrol when she arrived at Santa Fe that would allow her into the city. _Apparently_ (big surprise) the entire police force was slowly being bought out by Hydra. The code she had was one only she knew and would get her into the city illegally so she could deliver the message.

If, for some reason, she was caught trying to do this, she’d be beaten to death. Or at least until she wished she was dead.

Gritting her teeth, Skye walked up to the grimy, dusty window, which was propped open with a beer bottle. A younger, sleazy-looking man holding his thirtieth refill of impure alcohol in his hand leaned over the side of the window frame. “Hey, little _girl_ ," he leered. "You know what the punishment is for trying to sneak in.”

Skye glared automatically, then shied her eyes downwards, remembering that he was authority. You never show anything other than respect and obedience towards authority. The days with contact only with stragglers and runaways had her losing her training from her father. “I’m not trying to sneak in. I-” She lowered her voice and glanced at another guard a few feet away. “I’ve got a code. From the Rising Tide.”

The man stared at her. “What?” he drawled.

She stared at him, realizing that maybe he had no idea maybe he'd report her- but then she saw something akin to recognition in his eyes, prompting her to keep talking. “ _The cool wind in Tirih has been stolen, kidnapped and forced to feul the unworthy_ ,” she tried; not stumbling once over the code painfully drilled into her head by her father. 

_"Remember it," Cal had hissed, throwing her head against the cement wall. "Or you'll be shot on the spot."_

Almost immediately, the guard reacted with a nod and a knowing glint that made him seem far more intelligent than he’d first appeared to be.

He disappeared further into the booth and picked up his walkie-talkie and muttered something into it while Skye rocked back and forwards on her heels. After an uncomfortable minute of waiting, he leaned back over the window frame and looked down at her with a furrowed brow. “This way.” he said gruffly, and opened the non-descript door that led into the booth instead of the gate into the city. Skye narrowed her eyes as Henri whined. Maybe Hydra was having her take some sort of express way to the checkpoint? 

Having no other option, she and Henri followed the man reluctantly into the booth, sighing blissfully when the barely-alive air conditioning hit her face, causing the sweat sheening on her cheeks and under her sun-shielding thick clothes to reflect the cooler temperature. She sighed in bliss even as her stomach curdled with dread.

The man led her into a darker hallway, unseen from outside the wall. Skye followed him through the flickering tunnel, Henri bumping against her leg and panting.

After a long minute of walking, they reached a steel door, which the man unlocked and then held open for her to enter. She scrunched her face in fear but followed, hoping that Hydra wouldn’t just kill her and then take the drive and force it to unlock.

She entered through the doorway, shaking, but before she could take a good look around the new room, a rough sack was thrown over her head and she was plunged into darkness.


	3. Interrogation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello brain is dead

The first thing Skye was aware of was the cold.

Actual cold, not the loud, dusty fans in refuges she’d stopped in. She hadn’t felt a clean cool air flow like this… since her father’s house.

At this thought, she began to panic in the darkness under whatever rough sack was over her head. Had Cal come for her? Was the code wrong? Did Hydra-

No. She needed to calm down and think.

Skye shifted, taking stock of her body. She was wearing little, just her undershirt and leggings, and her arms and feet were exposed to the cool air. Her hands were tightly cuffed to a table in front of her.

This wasn’t Hydra’s style. If they wanted to interrogate her, they wouldn’t bother hiding things by covering her eyes. They wouldn’t plan on her being alive long enough to share.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the bag being tugged off of her head. She blinked at the sudden bright light, disoriented.

It took her a second to understand what was around her. She became rapidly aware of the cold metal chair she was sitting on, and her hands were cuffed to a matching table in front of her. 

She squinted as her blurry vision cleared to reveal the room she was in. It was a square room, not too big. Hexagonal metal plates covered the walls and a single, bright light was the single source of light in the windowless room. Two seconds later, she noticed two men standing on the other side of the table. One was wearing a suit and regarded her with sharp blue eyes. The other, pale with narrowed eyes and black hair, was wearing clean black hunting clothes and had a shotgun swung over his shoulder, which Skye eyed nervously.

They said nothing.

“Hi?” she asked uncertainly.

“What’s your name?” The man in the suit asked firmly. 

She frowned at him. “Skye.”

“Last name?”

“Just… Skye.” She didn’t want to reveal her last name as Zabo; she was uncertain of the situation and wasn’t sure if her ties to her father would be helpful.

“Unlock the thumb drive.” Shotgun guy said bluntly. 

Skye flinched in surprise before she attempted to school her face into a calm expression. “What thumb drive?” she asked, trying and failing to keep the waver out of her voice.

“Skye.” Suit guy put his hands on the table and met her eyes. “This is important. We need it unlocked. We went through your pack, we know you have it.”

_Fuck._

“Are you Hydra?” Skye asked suspiciously in return.

He sighed and shook his head. “No.”

“That’s what Hydra would say.”

“We’re _not_ Hydra,” Shotgun guy said, an annoyed expression crossing his face. He seemed genuine.

“Then why do you want it?”

“It’s…” the two men exchanged glances. “It has instructions to build something very dangerous. Extremis. Hydra wants it to build soldiers. They want to take over the weaker cities by force, just like they did with Santa Fe.”

She stared at him, not particularly surprised. If it came from her father, then it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for it to be something to do with human experimentation and enhancements.

“We need you to unlock the drive.”

“How do I know you won’t use it to make super-soldiers?” Skye asked.

“We’re going to keep it out of Hydra’s hands. Burn it, probably.”

“And who are you?”

“SHIELD.”

Skye’s eyes widened. 

_SHIELD._

She’d heard of SHIELD from her father’s shouting upstairs; some kind of resistance against Hydra that was constantly getting in the way of his plans. Maybe… the enemy of her enemy was her friend?

Even if she wanted to help them, she needed the drive. It was a ticket to a better life. “What happens if I don’t unlock it?”

“We’ll make you by force,” The shotgun-man spoke up. 

Skye decided she didn’t like his beady eyes and made a face at him.

“Ward _,_ ” Suit-guy chastised shotgun guy. Skye got the distinct feeling he was in charge. He turned back to her. “We don’t want to, but if it comes to that, we will. But, honestly? We need your help.”

Skye stared blankly at him. “With what?”

“You’re Zabo’s messenger, right? You must know secrets about him, The Rising Tide, and Hydra that we can use in addition to unlocking the drive. You’re valuable to us, Skye, if you cooperate.”

She did know a couple, but not because she was her father’s messenger, but because he didn’t care if she overheard his meetings. He thought she would never tell. He had been right; she had always been too afraid to spill his secrets.

But now she was miles away from him, and- “I can help you and unlock the drive, but I need protection from him and Hydra.”

“Done.”

“Done?” The man named Mack looked at the suit-guy incredulously. “Seriously, Coulson? Just like that? This could be a trap, or she’s lying. Sir.”

“If she is, we can take care of her. It’s not like she can get out. But she had the code and drive that Hydra was looking for. If she’s legitimate, and I suspect she is, she’s useful.” He turned back to Skye. “We’ll allow you to know some SHIELD classified info, but the second you try to leave, or deceive us, or stop cooperating, there will be consequences.”

“Painful ones.”

“ _Ward_ ,” Coulson said through his teeth.

“Sir. We know from experience that her age doesn’t mean that she can’t be dangerous.”

“Maybe not. But I know how Cal treats people that work for him. Slaves, with no way out. He sent her to die. We’ll treat you better, especially as you gain trust,” Coulson told her.

Skye knew little about SHIELD; she knew even less about how to keep herself safe from Cal. If they would give her safety, she would take it. Maybe one day she’d figure out a way to leave, but for now they were useful. “Sure.”

Ward made a weird face while Coulson took her handcuffs off. “Ready?”

Skye rubbed her wrists. “One thing.”

“Yes?”

“Where the everloving fuck is my dog?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> brain is still dead c u next week

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are literally the only thing maintaining my sanity, so please lemme know what you think! (Concrit appreciated).
> 
> Next update: March 22


End file.
